Loophole

The "Gun Show Loophole Closing and Gun Law Enforcement Act of 2001" has now become known with the introduction of S. 890 in Congress. There is no such thing as a gun-show loophole. Gun-show vendors are subjected to the same gun laws as everyone else. This is media hype and a political farce. Criminals don't get their guns legally, but those who attend shows do. This is nothing more than governmental abuse of power. I'm not a conspiracy theorist or paranoid. I'm merely an American citizen, tired of my rights guaranteed by the Constitution, being ripped away one chip at a time.

WASHINGTON — Call it the triumph of hope over experience. For the second time in two years, a so-called "supercommittee" of U.S. House and Senate lawmakers — including U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson — has started working on a deal to break the gridlock on Capitol Hill and restore order to the budget process. Aware of past failures, lawmakers on the 29-member panel have downplayed expectations for a "grand bargain" in favor of implementing smaller reforms, including several populist measures being pitched by Nelson, the only Floridian on the committee.

Last month's race for the Seminole County Commission's District 2 seat was a squeaker. Republican challenger John Horan defeated his party's incumbent Mike McLean by just 593 votes, less than 2 percent of the 35,113 ballots cast. No Democrats or minor party candidates are running for the seat, so Mr. Horan is all but certain to be the next commissioner. But because of an easily exploited loophole in state election law, more than half the 264,000 registered voters in Seminole County — the 60 percent who aren't Republicans — were shut out of the contest.

Golden Arches have no place in the "fine dining" ambience of Park Avenue, Winter Park commissioners decided Monday. The City Commission banned new fast-food restaurants within the city's famously upscale shopping and dining district by closing a loophole that had allowed some fast-food outlets to qualify as "fine dining. " No one spoke against the ordinance, which passed 5-0. Restaurateurs and merchants worried that with franchises such as BurgerFi and Firehouse Subs already operating on Park Avenue, more fast food was inevitable, putting the street's charm and uniqueness at risk.

TAVARES -- Kay Schlein, write-in candidate for Lake County commissioner, hasn't spent any time stumping for votes this fall, but she doesn't need to campaign. In her view, she already has won. Schlein, 60, a Leesburg Republican, said she declared as a write-in candidate in the race to prevent Democrats from voting in the Republican primary, which pitted two-term incumbent Jennifer Hill against challenger Jim Miller. "I think if Democrats want to vote [in the primary], they should run a candidate," she said.

People -- past, present and future -- will make uncomplimentary remarks about School Superintendent Anna Cowin. However, if one would only look at the stupidity of the voters for allowing politicians to continue slipping into office using a loophole, we would then realize where to put the blame. I am referring to the situation that allowed the Republicans to close the primary for school superintendent by putting up a write-in candidate. Needless to say, the politicians are not about to close the loophole by changing the law, so Cowin probably can have another four years if she wants.

I am totally baffled by our bureaucracy these days. In reference to Peter Brown's Aug. 3 column about the 27-year-old HIV-positive woman who hunts for men on the club scene: Nobody can stop her because of loopholes in the law. If there is indeed a loophole that allows for her actions, then another loophole needs to be enacted to take her out of action. Brown's comparison to Timothy McVeigh was just the tip of the iceberg. If the woman sleeps with 168 people, what about the multitudes of people they will end up sleeping with?

It has been a bad year for gun-haters, and they won't be giving 2001 a 21-gun salute. The Bush administration won the presidency; courts are overturning municipal gun suits and law-abiding citizens are taking up arms in reaction to Sept. 11. What is a gun-hater to do? They do what Jim Hanson did in his Wednesday letter to the editor: sink to new lows by maligning gun owners and the Bush administration with talk of terrorists and the "dangerous" gun-show loophole. Some 20,000 gun laws have been created, and many of those laws (including the Brady Bill)

State legislators moved to slam shut a loophole in Florida's land laws that has let developers take ownership of thousands of acres of underwater lands. Gov. Bob Graham said he was not completely satisfied with the one-year moratorium declared on court use of the Marketable Record Title Act but he expressed relief that further court actions have been stayed at least temporarily. Details: In the final hours of their regular 1985 session, the House and Senate agreed on a compromise to stop landowners from using the act to win title to river bottoms and lake beds.

Thanks to the pro-growth policies of Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Legislature, our state's economy is recovering faster than most of the nation's. Additional tax reform, including reductions to business taxes, would keep Florida ahead in job growth and economic recovery. Tax reform can include one simple, common-sense correction: leveling the playing field between online and brick-and-mortar merchants by requiring online retailers to collect sales taxes the same way our local stores do - at the point of sale.

TALLAHASSEE — The Florida Legislature passed a plan Wednesday to inject more cash into elections as part of a broader reform that eliminates some political slush funds politicians have used to support their "filet mignon" lifestyles. As part of a broader deal, state lawmakers passed a bill (HB 569) that would boost contribution limits for statewide offices such as governor, attorney general and chief financial officer from $500 per person to $3,000 per person. The per-person limit for legislative candidates and judges would rise to $1,000 per election.

Good riddance The time appears nigh for Florida Internet cafes to cash in their chips. On Thursday, by a 36-4 margin, the Florida Senate passed a proposal that would outlaw the euphemistically named strip-mall casinos that suck in patrons with virtual slot machines. Next stop: Gov. Rick Scott, who has vowed to sign the measure. And with his John Hancock, good riddance to bad rubbish. "This is about closing down unscrupulous operators who have found loopholes in the statutes," declared Sen. John Thrasher, a St. Augustine Republican.

Recognized across much of the country by its bright-red logo, Circle K has hundreds of convenience stores in Florida, selling everything from coffee and engine oil to ice cream and potato chips. But for at least a decade, when Circle K's cash registers rang in Florida, a portion of the sales was passed on to a company subsidiary in Delaware -- beyond the reach of Florida's corporate-income tax. Circle K was paying "royalties" to itself, with the company's Florida business paying its Delaware one for the right to use the corporate logo on store signs, plastic mugs and paper napkins.

It looks like Florida businesses will still be able to get pollution-related tax breaks for building on land even where there is no proof of contamination. Despite concerns raised about the practice, proposed bills filed in the Legislature (HB 415, SB 554) tweaking the state's brownfield program make no substantial changes to the definition of a brownfield. When local governments declare land a brownfield so businesses can get tax breaks, there doesn't have to be any actual contamination — just the perception of it. Companies such as Publix have taken advantage of that to build on land with no evidence of pollution.

TALLAHASSEE - Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford says he wants to crack down on the big-money interests that thwart public disclosure by funneling millions of dollars for ads, entertainment and other campaign largesse through obscure, third-party groups. But the legislative response taking shape this spring leaves a glaring loophole: political parties themselves, and the "leadership funds" the Legislature re-authorized two years ago. The House Ethics and Elections Subcommittee work-shopped HB 569 on Wednesday, the chamber's proposal to do away with what are called "committees of continuous existence" which lawmakers use to raise big checks from donors and either funnel them elsewhere or spend them on travel, hotels, food, and entertainment.

Rep. Paul Ryan is adamant that tax rates on the rich shouldn't be raised despite President Barack Obama 's push for the change and polls supporting the shift. Ryan sounds off on tax policy in an interview with ABC News' Jonathan Karl. "Raising tax rates hurts economic growth and of all things we need right now, to prevent a fiscal cliff , prevent a recession, prevent a debt crisis, is we need people to go back to work," Ryan tells Karl. "There are other ways of getting more revenue into our government without damaging the economy, and that's the kind of thing we hope to achieve.

When I think of the special laws that permit Mitt Romney to pay a lower tax rate than many middle class Americans, I have to wonder what I would do if I were in the same situation. Suppose I got lucky and became a leading player in the private equity industry. That's the group that was able to use its lobbying power to convince Congress to create a special loophole called "carried interest" so people like Mr. Romney could dramatically lower their tax burden. If I were one of those guys would I take advantage of that loophole?